The system of court orders designed to protect children from paedophiles is
“not fit for purpose”, a report commissioned by police chiefs has found.

Leading child protection experts warned that the volume of civil prevention orders being obtained by the authorities was “grossly low” compared to the number of sex offenders.

The review, ordered by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), looked at the use of sexual offences prevention orders, foreign travel orders and risk of sexual harm orders, which were introduced under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

It found that courts were refusing to grant the orders in some cases, in particular where suspected paedophiles had not been convicted of a criminal offence, and proposed that a lower bar should be introduced.

The report raised particular concerns about foreign travel orders, noting that only 45 had been issued in seven years despite well-documented evidence about sex offenders going abroad to abuse children.

Christine Beddoe, one of the review's authors, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: "Between 2008 and July 2012, 303 British sex offenders had been arrested abroad, which is a phenomenal amount and clearly shows something is not working."

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Peter Davies, Acpo’s lead for child protection, said those who compiled the report were “on to something”.

He told Today: “We’re going to look at that very carefully, and consider what the next step should be. I think it’s a quality report, and we are keen to protect the public in any way we can.”

Details of the review came as the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (Ceop) revealed that it received 18,887 reports of child abuse in 2012-13, up 14 per cent on the previous year.

Ceop warned that the increased availability of high-speed internet around the world was likely to increase the threat to children.

Mr Davies, who is chief executive of Ceop, said: “We recognise that the world is constantly changing and offenders will continue to seek new ways to abuse children, which is why our work with partners around the globe is constantly evolving to ensure we're always one step ahead of abusers.”